Fore-aft seat position adjustment arrangements are commonly used to permit the position of a vehicle seat to be moved relative to the front or rear of a vehicle in which the seat is mounted either closer to the front of the vehicle or closer to the rear of the vehicle to accommodate seat occupants of different sizes, heights and shapes. In the past, relatively simple seat mount and fore-aft seat position adjustment arrangements have been constructed of numerous components that require a considerable number of manufacturing steps that have tended to make them increasingly cost-prohibitive. One such known fore-aft seat position adjustment system used on lawn tractors employs a seat mount assembly formed of a metal plate that functions not only as a seat mount but also as a slide plate. The seat mount slide plate has a pair of spaced apart fore-aft extending guide slots defined by parallel slot sidewalls with each guide slot receiving a pair of bolts that are inserted through washers into metal spacer bushings attached to a bottom of the seat. Not only are an excessive number of parts required, namely bolts, washers, and bushings, but the time required to place washers on each bolt before maneuvering each bolt through the seat mount slide plate and spacer bushing in attaching the bolt to the seat bottom is considerable.
In addition, since spacer bushings are required to space the seat mount slide plate from the seat bottom, the vertical height or profile of such a seat mount and fore-aft position adjustment arrangement is rather tall. This results in a seat index point that can be undesirably high and which can limit clearance with a rollover protective structure of a vehicle cab when present. Finally, the use of metal fasteners is less than desirable because they can rust and can cause the seat mount slide plate to rust. The use of metal washers to help provide a fore-aft bearing surface is also undesirable as they too can rust and can also scrape the seat mount slide plate which can, in turn, lead to rusting of the slide plate.
Another common fore-aft adjustment system consists of a pair of seat adjusters attached between the bottom of the seat and the vehicle but can also be located between the bottom of the seat and an upper housing of its seat suspension. Each adjuster consists of an elongate metal upper rail bolted to the seat that is slidably interlocked with an elongate metal lower rail bolted to the vehicle or seat suspension with the upper rail moving or translating linearly relative to the lower rail during seat adjustment. At least one of the adjusters includes an integrated seat position latch used to releasably fix the position of the upper rail relative to the lower rail to releasably lock the seat in a desired fore-aft seat position.
Unfortunately, since the upper and lower rails of each adjuster typically include an elongate channel formed in one rail that receives a flange of the other rail, dirt and other debris, such as sand, gravel, or grass clippings, can and often does accumulate within the channel causing the rails to bind and even lock up preventing fore-aft seat position adjustment. In addition, since seat adjusters typically require a significant amount of space between the seat and the vehicle or suspension housing, quite often raising the seat 25 mm or more above the vehicle or suspension housing, seat adjusters are ill-suited for off-road vehicle seating applications where seat clearance is limited.
What is needed is a seat mount that also provides fore-aft seat position adjustment that overcomes at least some of these drawbacks.